Newslines 20 January

Author/Source: Robin Roberts

20th January 2018

Vauxhall’s Ellesmere Port plant must halve its production costs if it is to meet PSA goals, company boss Carlos Tavares has told journalists at Detroit motor show as he prepares to meet UK Government and unions.

The new owner of Ellesmere Port and Luton van plants said their French equivalents cost half as much to operate and it has already announced 650 job cuts in the North West and has raised concerns over future charges after Brexit.

It builds a range of cars and their plants have spare capacity which up to now have gone into other former Soviet states, but there is still room to make European models.

The Government has abandoned a suggestion of extending the first MoT Test beyond three years.

It was suggested the extension would reflect improving durability of vehicles but the motor industry was concerned it was likely to mean critical safety issues would be overlooked.

After University of Swansea won Santander support for its bike sharing scheme last year, Cardiff will launch its nextbike programme in May.

Initially there will be 25 stations and 250 bikes available throughout the capital, but there are plans to double those numbers in 2019.

World record breaking cyclist Mark Beaumont is calling on families across Wales to take up the challenge of ‘Around the world in 10 days’ as part of Sustrans Big Pedal 2018 – a UK-wide event to get more young people cycling and scooting to school.

The Big Pedal 2018, which runs from Monday 23 April to Friday 4 May, will see pupils, parents and teachers across the UK leave their cars at home and get on their bikes and scooters for their journeys to and from school.